B2B Trending Conversations: The best of the blockchain buzz

Welcome to another round of B2B Conversations, our weekly roundup of the most shared and buzzworthly content on social media about a specific area of the B2B world. This week, we’re focusing on blockchain technology. You may not be familiar with the term “blockchain” yet, but you’re probably familiar with what it was created to support: bitcoin.

Using Nexalogy, we discovered the articles about blockchain that are getting the most attention on social this week, and have collected them here to keep you in the loop. Enjoy!

In this article for Bloomberg, Olga Kharif does a great job explaining what blockchain is, and why it’s beginning to surpass bitcoin (which it was originally created to support) in potential importance and impact. Highlighted in this article is the fact that venture capital investment in startups that are commercializing blockchain technology eclipsed that in bitcoin-only companies for the first time in the first quarter of 2016. “Blockchain’s boosters say it will drive big improvements in efficiency by streamlining logistics and cutting out intermediaries,” Kharif reports.

This article, written by Ian Kar for Quartz, summarizes a report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that looked at how the US postal service could use blockchain technology in the future. From keeping better track of the mail (yay!) to verifying identities and more, blockchain technology could potentially transform the postal service, although it would be a complex process for such a large institution to begin undertaking. Regardless, the article may pique your curiosity even more, and get you thinking about the potential impact blockchain technology could have on your own business.

“Blockchain today might be like the internet in 1993,” Kevin Maney writes in this article for Newsweek, “a decade from now, you’ll wonder how society ever functioned without it, even though most of us barely know what it is today.” Maney goes on to cover some of the real applications that are happening already, including Everledger and Abra, as well as some of the potential applications blockchain technology could have, from banking and finance to the way Facebook deals with personal data.

In this article for Business Insider, Andrew Meola reports that R3 CEV and Ripple, two leaders in the emerging blockchain industry, could be joining forces soon. R3 CEV is an innovation and development consortium group that has partnered with over 40 financial institutions, while Ripple provides global financial settlement solutions through blockchain technology—so a potential partnership between the two like-minded companies makes total sense, as Ripple CEO Chris Larsen points out in this tweet.

If you missed last week’s edition from Brett Wilkins, which focused on supply chain management and procurement, head here to check it out. As always, if you have any B2B content or ideas you think we should focus on next week, let us know via @b2bnewsnetwork. We love hearing from you!

Sarah Dawley

Sarah is an Ecosystem Copywriter at Hootsuite, where she writes a variety of materials about social media and its impact on business. Prior to joining Hootsuite, she was the Social Marketing Manager for the Music & Entertainment Channels at Bell Media, where she spent nearly four years building the presence of Much, MTV Canada, M3 and E! Canada into social communities of over 2.8 million fans and followers. Find her on Twitter @sarahdawley